As I sat by the water’s edge this morning, I not only entered into a deep quiet time, I also entered into the realm of the clouds. Other years, while in Mexico, I entered into the flight of the birds or the sparkling light on the water. This year, clearly, it is the clouds.
Once all the rabbit and dragons passed by as figures, I immersed myself into the cloud-ness itself. It was the experience of not only the home of air, but, indeed, the place of breath. There was a sense of a living breath etherically present as an element. I wondered, knowing the four elements as earth, water, air and fire, what the etheric elements were of a human being. Clearly breath was one; I imagined light another.
As I continued to quietly gaze into the presence and realm of the clouds, I could experience the constant movement. I no longer just saw figures, but now images began to emerge. There was also a quality of dark and light, depth and perspective. Images not necessarily to be named, although it was lovely to see them emerging, like a veil painting, but instead I realized that in this homeland of the clouds, of breath, and perpetual movement, I sensed a supportive environment for something else as well: Imagination. It was as if the clouds with their lightness and playfulness opened up a gym for the imagination.
With this experience, I allowed myself to exercise the seeing of emerging figures. I entered into the movement of the clouds and images moving for longer periods of time. I was not just fitfully jumping from image to image, but it became more of a meditative yoga of breath and awareness of presence of first images and then thoughts. In this gym of existence and yoga of breath, a sense of peacefulness filled my being in the quietness of it all. The clouds I was entering into were white and slight and full and figured and yet, what was emerging were quiet images, silent movements and a healthy breath of fresh air.
When I closed my eyes, I could feel my lungs refilling. I could sense the quickening of the worlds of imagination, and I felt peacefulness and gratitude for this living wisdom all around me. The clouds and their molecular and imaginative breath were placed beside the vision and views of the waters of life so blue and clear and sparkling. It was a moment of feeling life and its essential substances out of which we are formed and live supported by, each and every day.
Rod reflected to me on our walk back home, down the beach, that the air and molecules we breathe in were taken in and exhaled by others. It was delightful to imagine breathing in the air of those I treasure, and I wondered what influence those breaths of air, carried within by others, have upon each one of us? Imagine if I breathed in the same imaginative molecules and thought-filled air of Ghandi or Helen Keller? What gifts have they to offer? What responsibility do I have to the carrying of breath, imaginations, conscious thoughts and molecular cellular rejuvenation present in the air? Is this not someway connected to the evolution of consciousness?
Thoughts by LaBelle Sophie
Candlemas, February 2, 2012